Group Blog talking about the NBA 2009 Eastern Conference Champions. Due to the amazing success of the 2009 playoff run comments are now frequently deleted to kill offensive comments, incoherence, or asininity. Comments can no longer be anonymous and require either a Blogger or OpenID account.

Friday, February 01, 2008

Magic win tight one in Philly

In a super-close game throughout, the Magic (30-18, 18-10 road) held a 3 pt lead over PHI (18-29) entering the final qtr. The lead changed hands several times in the final four minutes, with the Magic clinching the game with 2 seconds remaining on HTurkoglu's two FTs to win 108-106. Turk had another outstanding game, his first game since the All-Star reserves were announced, with him not making the team despite deserving numbers.

Magic now have an NBA-high 18 road wins, have won 7 of their last 9 games, and are back at 12 games over .500, their most since starting 16-4 before losing 12 of 19 games reminding Magic fans of their collapse from last season under Brian Hill. Now, if the Magic play at least .500 the rest of the way, they will finish with at least 47 wins compared to just 40 last year. Magic travel to IND SAT night.

3 Comments:

It's really a good sign that the Magic are able to win all these close games; this was their third win in the last week and a half in the final seconds of a game.

PHI had just come off a 43 pt win over MIL, and are just a few games behind the final playoff spot in the East, so this was a good road win for the Magic.

Say what you will about Arroyo's slow foot-speed defensively, but the fact is the Magic are now winning consistently with him as starting PG. Aside from the BOS game last SUN where he had the 6 TOs, he has had an excellent AST/TO ratio in 5 of the last 6 games of 25/6. I hope Arroyo stays in the starting lineup for the foreseeable future as Nelson continues to be eased into the rotation after his injury.

Good all-around games from Turk and Lewis; also Dooling did his usual outstanding job off the bench.

Like SVG i didnt think we played well defenseively at all. The guys just didnt start out with a whole lot of energy. But a win is a win and we'll take it. That kind of effort wont win tonight,so the magic must try and find something to motivate then to play harder. Tough game for us tonight,indiana can push us around as they showed the last time winning in our building,lets see if turk and rashard can play tougher against dunleavy and granger.

The Magic (30-18, 18-10 road) will try for their 8th win in 10 games tonight against struggling IND (19-28, 9-12 home). The Pacers have lost 5 in a row and 15 out of their last 19, and are coming off a 106-103 home loss to HOU FRI night.

IND's Jermaine O'Neal has missed the last 7 games with a bone bruise in his knee, and will be out indefinitely.

The Magic have struggled at Indy, losing their last 4 games played there. In their last 6 games there, the Magic have not scored more than 86 pts in a game. Magic are 4 pt favorites (www.pinnaclesports.com).